February in Germany

You know, when we moved out of our apartment, sold most of our belongings and set out on the road to work and travel a year and a half ago, I though we'd constantly be somewhere new, changing spots about every month and well, just covering more ground than we've been so far... (Oh, and I thought we'd have the Green Card for my husband by now!) But I guess that's how things go sometimes. You have some idea of how a new chapter in your life will go or what it will look like, and then when it's actually happening it's slightly different than your original expectations.

So, right now, we're not headed to some new country, spot or farm. We're in France. Again. At the Chateau we've been to twice already. We love the people, the work is good too. Lots of pro's really all around. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...we're grateful to be here and the kids love it.

The kids loved going to a "Karnevals Parade" while we were in Germany- loaded up on candy...

And when I think about it, our kind of new way of traveling (a mix of new places and places we've already been a few times) is a great way to build up the connections with amazing people we've met during our travels. A couple of these places and or families we've met have even mentioned us possibly one day joining in with their community and or moving/buying land together. I mean, we don't want to travel around like this forever. Yeah, someday we'll get to travel around America too. But after traveling around Europe, and then doing relatively the same thing state-side for a while, then I can totally imagine settling down in one of the amazing places we've been and living with some of these wonderful people.

Taking care of and enjoying the riding arena at the farm in Germany.

Or a couple of them.

The possibilities are endless.

But anyway. We are in France. Last month we were house-sitting for our friends in Germany (whose farm we stayed at last summer, remember?) so they could get away and travel a bit. I had so many ideas of what we could do while back in Germany. Meeting up with people. Developing more for my online courses, etc. But instead we arrived and I came down with a horrible flu that had me down for the count for a whole week and still pretty unwell/very low energy, blocked sinuses and coughing badly for another whole week. That put quite a damper on any productive plans I had for almost half our time there. But, what are you gonna do?

So what did we do? Not that much. Our daughter celebrated her birthday. We held down the fort and got to take care of 2 dogs, 3 cats and 18 chicken – as well as multiple tasks related to the boarding stables like maintenance of the riding arena, refilling the bale feeders with hay etc. So that also kept us a little busy. The kids got to meet up with friends and otherwise it was nice, once again to be able to set our own schedule and have lots of family time.

Our youngest is 9! Presents, cake, ice skating with friends- we had a great time (and the rare picture with me in it!)

That's another thing we've learned and changed a bit. Traveling and working in exchange for room and board is a great way to travel, meet people, learn a lot and not break the bank, but a break every now and then is also important. Every few months we're going to take some time for ourselves and do some form of house-sitting or otherwise take a bit of time off when we can.

Otherwise I'd say we're in a pretty good rhythm and have nice plans for the next months. This could of course, as you know, change at any moment if we were to hear that my husbands Green Card is suddenly done being processed. But who knows when that will be. It's been a year and a half since we first started this process. And if we've learned one thing in that respect it's to be ready for anything.

And we are!

Last days on the farm in Germany- saying good bye to the animals and doing the last morning manure round together.

For now we're enjoying sunshine and a warmer spring than we would be having in Germany. A beautiful Chateau, amazing friends- as well as making new ones- and making memories. I'm also starting in one week (eek!) my second pilot group. This time with a small group of teenagers. I am so excited to be moving forward with these courses I'm developing. Helping people to learn all the tips, tricks and meditations I've learned over the years so they can deal with stress better and work on their own self-development- I feel like that's what I've been put on this planet to do and breaking out of our old life and traveling has allowed me to realize that and put more energy into it. Couldn't be more grateful.

Have a wonderful beginning spring/end of winter everyone! Hopefully wherever you are the trees are also about to all turn green, the tulips are coming up, birds are singing and life is coming back into nature, just like here.

From the Heart,

Stacy